Gasoline company suddenly withdraws expansion plan for tanks across from Commerce City elementary school

A gasoline distributor late Thursday canceled its unpopular proposal for a major tank farm expansion across from a Commerce City elementary school in a neighborhood heavily impacted by air pollution, blaming a customer backing out of a contract.

Magellan Pipeline Company’s hotly controversial expansion near Dupont Elementary had galvanized neighbors, environmental and community activists and local officials in opposition to the permit application, which has now been withdrawn from further consideration by the state health department’s Air Pollution Control Division. 

Magellan, now a subsidiary of ONEOK, had said it wanted more tanks for storing and distributing reformulated gasoline, which emits fewer ozone-causing pollutants and was required by the EPA at northern Front Range gas stations this summer as one effort to bring Colorado under strict federal caps for the toxic gas.

Suncor, Colorado’s only petroleum refinery and another major source of pollution for Commerce City and Adams County, is the dominant provider of reformulated gasoline. Petroleum trade officials said Magellan’s contributions to reformulated gas in 2024 helped competition and lowered consumer prices for the fuel. 

Magellan “has withdrawn its air permit application for the proposed five-tank expansion at the company’s Dupont, Colorado, location. The proposed tanks are no longer necessary based on the customer’s decision to back out of the commercial contract,” read a statement emailed to media outlets from ONEOK spokesperson Annell Morrow. The statement said the company “will continue to meet customer needs through Magellan’s existing, valuable infrastructure in the area and looks forward to working with stakeholders.”

Opponents of the expansion celebrated the withdrawal and gave credit to their movement to pack public meetings and state health comment sessions with arguments that heavily minority and lower-income neighborhoods have already suffered far too much from toxic emissions. They announced a press conference and victory party for Friday afternoon. 

The decision highlights “the power of the community unifying and advocating in protecting the health and safety of Commerce City families,” said an announcement from Cultivando spokesperson Guadalupe Solis, who has helped lead the opposition. 

The Magellan pipeline terminal across from Dupont Elementary has 20 storage tanks. The expansion proposed an additional five tanks.

Petroleum handling facilities release volatile organic compounds, including benzene and other hazardous chemicals, into surrounding neighborhoods, and adding a significant number of tanks, pipes and valves will increase emissions, according to permit applications. 

Concerns expressed in public forums and permit comments focused particularly on benzene, which can cause cancer and low birth weights. 

Cultivando has said the area around Dupont Elementary already has consistently higher levels of benzene, even for Commerce City. 

Colorado officials faced various dilemmas in reviewing the permit for the  terminal expansion. The tanks would have held more reformulated gasoline than the site could handle for the 2024 season, and thereby help meet other environmental goals of the Polis administration. 

Colorado’s northern Front Range counties must use the less volatile gasoline in summer to help bring the state’s ozone-causing emissions in line with EPA limits. Reformulated gas, according to the EPA, can cut back on ozone-causing emissions because it’s denser and doesn’t evaporate as quickly in hot weather.

The Polis administration warned earlier this year consumers could pay up to 50 cents more a gallon for reformulated gasoline because the market is dominated by Suncor’s Commerce City refinery. But petroleum trade officials and even the EPA said companies like Magellan did a good job increasing competition this spring by piping in alternative supplies ahead of the June 1 launch of reformulated gasoline. 

Magellan’s early action to pipe in reformulated gas last spring saved Front Range residents, including those in Adams County, 15 to 20 cents a gallon by boosting competitive pricing, officials of the Colorado Wyoming Petroleum Marketers Association said this week. Still, they added, gasoline companies are aware that 9 out of 10 gallons of Front Range gas is delivered from Adams County facilities like Magellan and Suncor. Developers need to help “take care of that community,” the trade group said.